My last Blog for 2009

This will be my last Blog for 2009. Here it is December 30TH and we will be celebrating the New Year in the Rio Grande Valley near McAllen,TX again for the 3RD year in a row. Tomorrow is New Year's eve and as usual, I'm sure we will be sound asleep when midnight comes. Then on New Year's day, we will have Champagne and our usual  "traditional" Southern New Year's dinner of Black Eyed Peas, Collard Greens and Ham. We have done that for as many years as I have known Ms Pat and it has become one of my favorites. She is the world's most wonderful cook and I love her "southern" traditions.  BTW....the Black Eyed Peas are for "good luck", the Collard Greens are for "wealth" and the Ham is one of my favorites.  I only get it on special occasions.  :-).  

On these last few days of the year, I can't help but look back over the past year at all the things we've done. All in all, it has been a GREAT YEAR! A lot of interesting things happened, but the thing that I am most thankful for is that our health has remained excellent. That's mighty important at any age, but especially important at our age.  Looking back at the daily records I keep, I see Ms Pat is 16 lbs lighter than she was last year and I am 8 lbs lighter. Our daily exercise, careful planning and food management program continue to pay off. It takes a lot of will power and determination, but those kind of results make it all worth while.

We finally got our little building on our lot at North Ranch in Arizona stuccoed. We had been wanting to get that done for several years.

We got our Toy Barn at Custer electrified and a 50amp RV plug installed as planned. That along with this little patio extension project has about been the extent of our construction projects for the year. Oh,and I forgot to mention that we completed the patio project just before Christmas.....Thankfully!!

I was getting a little tired of this project. It took over a month to complete. About 3 weeks longer than expected. We kept getting rained out and things don't dry out down here very fast.

This dirt pile has since been removed and we are happy with our "little" project. It will be nice to have a place to get our trash container and a few other items out of sight.

Another accomplishment we made this year was getting back into the Harley corner by purchasing the Heritage Softail Police Officers Special Edition Motorcycle. That made me real happy!

We also purchased a great Polaris 500 Sportsman 4-wheeler to ride in the Black hills. We enjoy 4-wheeling in the Hills very much.   Plus, we bought a cargo trailer. We have that all fixed up and prepared to haul the Harley or the Polaris. We are looking forward to taking our Volvo truck as a motorhome and pulling the trailer with the Harley up through Montana to Glacier National Park next summer. We'll also make a stop in Idaho.  I have always wanted to take Ms Pat to Coeur d'Alene. I think it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

We had our Re-Baptism at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. That really was the most meaningful event that happened all year.

However, I think the next most memorable and enjoyable thing that has come into our life this year is Ms Megabyte2. The Joy and Happiness that little gal has brought us is nothing short of a "miracle".. It was Sunday evening, Feb 1ST, when we made the decision to take her with us the next morning on our move to Arizona. Right up until then, we planned on leaving without her. How we could have even thought of such a thing is now amazing. When Kathy Detweiler told me that she was an "Angel Kitty", I broke! I knew then that she was ours and going with us. I had always had the feeling that Scott sent her to us, but for someone else to confirm it, I knew it was true. She is truly an "Angel Kitty", Thank You Scott and Thank You Kathy!

Here she was on the day after Christmas last year. She was still sleeping out under an old shed out back and she was coming over and visiting us a lot. The night before we departed a month later was the first night she ever spent inside with us. She has only been away one night since.  That was when she spent the night at the Vets after her cesarian operation. She is such a joy.

So thats about it.  There is more but these are the highlights and I'm sure you are bored by now.

One more Football game this year.  TODAY the Nebraska Cornhuskers play Arizona in the Holiday Bowl at San Diego at 7pm tonight (Central time). I'll be cheering them on as long as I can stay awake, so I hope it's a good game. It should be.  Nebraska is ranked 20TH and Arizona is 22ND. It's on ESPN.
Then on FRIDAY (New Year's Day) Florida State plays West Virgina in the Gator Bowl at Jacksonville. That is going to be Bobby Bowden's final game. We will be cheering them and him on at 12pm (central). Its on CBS. Bobby is a Giant of a man and I respect him whole heartedly. He and I came to Tallahassee about the same time and we both left our mark on the place. His much more noticable than mine! I met him several times as he and Ann used to eat at the same Restaurant lots of times and I attended many Monday "quarterback" luncheons after the football games where he was usually the speaker. We had season tickets for years...

It is a GREAT WEEK and a WONDERFUL YEAR!!

Happy New Year to you all..

God Bless.......Remember to tell your loved ones you love them.... they may not be around forever.

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday and Wednesday.